The 1999 Varèse Sarabande album is a regular U.S. release. The 2008
promotional album is an extremely limited pressing, offered free by one soundtrack specialty
outlet on orders over $100. It was no longer advertised as being available two weeks later.

Buy it... on the rare 2008 promotional album if you originally
enjoyed the R&B and noir elements of the score and are open to hearing
Christopher Young's own rearrangement of the material to better reflect
them.

Avoid it... on the same promo album if you seek a true
representation of the music actually used in the film (including the
orchestral portions), which the 1999 Varèse Sarabande product
more accurately reflects.

In Too Deep: (Christopher Young) As a fragmented
tribute to several cop and organized crime thrillers of the past, In
Too Deep didn't really present any new concepts with which to draw
audience interest. Decent performances by Omar Epps and LL Cool J were
wasted by a derivative script and poor pacing. Epps plays an undercover
cop assigned to infiltrate LL Cool J's drug distribution business in
Cincinnati, and the (often tense and violent) interaction between the
two is the central focus of the story. Australian director Michael Rymer
was unsuccessful in reaching out to black pop culture audiences with
In Too Deep, despite the heavy influence of rap and R&B sounds in
the songs and score for the production. Composer Christopher Young had
proven his ability to provide convincing scores for black culture films
with such noteworthy efforts as Tales from the Hood and Set It
Off, and In Too Deep is an intelligent extension of some of
the same ideas. At the time, the project reportedly represented the
first in a set of three films that Young was signed to write for Miramax
arthouse ventures. He was thrilled to not only have the opportunity to
write the score, but also contribute the melody to one of the film's
songs. The assignment required Young to infuse an orchestral base of
urban suspense and drama with an R&B sound representative of the culture
in the story. Not only did he accomplish this, but he even managed to
incorporate a slightly noir style of classic street thriller origin with
the use of muted trumpets and saxophones as counterpoint to the score's
more fluid R&B movements.

Fans impressed by the diversity of the symphonic and
synthetic blend of Young's just previous work for the mainstream film
Entrapment will be equally impressed by In Too Deep,
though the latter score is far more understated. In fact, the score
album release for In Too Deep didn't meet with much praise in
1999, and Young himself was among those who expressed dissatisfaction
with the product. Because of a licensing conflict with the song album
for In Too Deep, Young's song "Give Me a Reason" (co-written with
Frank Fitzpatrick and singer David Hollister) and was not allowed to be
included on the score album, despite its influence on the thematic and
stylistic contents of the score. The 1999 Varèse Sarabande album
does, however, feature a rounded balance of all the atmospheric,
symphonic, and R&B elements of the score. The only theme for In Too
Deep is indeed the melody of the graceful R&B song "Give Me a
Reason," though you don't often hear it on that initial release. The
majority of the score, as Young states, consists heavily of "synth
drones with slow moving chords and minimal melody on top." Aside from
these lengthy atmospheric sequences of subtlety and brooding, however,
are a handful of robust orchestral passages, including the pounding
timpani and brass rhythm of "Bust." None of these symphonic sections is
equal to Entrapment, Hard Rain, or other previous action
scores by Young. As such, with mostly ambient droning, sparse orchestral
bursts, and the lack of the actual song, the brief Varèse album,
despite establishing a decently dark, hip mood, was dissatisfying for
both Young and his fans.

The two most engaging cues (amounting to over six
minutes) on that Varèse album were not actually used in the film.
The opening title track, in which Young establishes the most acute R&B
beat and solos by a piano and trumpet, is actually a demo piece that the
composer wrote to get the assignment. The final track, titled "Missing
Vocal," is just that. It's the instrumental background for the "Give Me
a Reason" song, and Young insisted that it be included on the product as
a "statement of my disappointment." For mainstream score fans, this
material still bordered on being inaccessible, and the album fell into
obscurity (especially compared to the song compilation album released by
Sony). In 2008, however, In Too Deep was resurrected in the form
of a promotional album that Young produced to wash out the sour
aftertaste that the score's initial circumstances had caused. He
personally rearranged the score and song material into a presentation
different from that on the Varèse album. Much of the orchestral
material was removed in favor of the R&B flavor that featured both the
references to the theme and the overdubbed, noir-like tones of the
trumpets and saxes. Three versions of the song are included, with the
song compilation's version at the end. Two mixes far more classy in
their percussive placement are provided as well, with the second
presentation offering an extended, lovely series of solos by trumpet and
sax. These lighter mixes of the song are far superior to the more famous
version, and frankly overshadow the remaining score on the album. Young
once again includes the three-minute demo recording on the 2008
promo.

The remixed and rearranged score material on the promo
is a more consistent listening experience than on the 1999 Varèse
product, dropping most of the least interesting ambient contents. A
track such as "Tank Trips 2" contains both "Tank Trips" and the
distinctly cool "God's Alive (Inside a Movie)" tracks from the previous
album. It is disappointing in some ways that an orchestral track like
"Bust" didn't make Young's choices for the promo, but he's done better
with the idea in other scores. Additionally, the promo really defines
itself as a better R&B product, though it should be noted that a
dramatic orchestral exploration of the theme in "Thank Not You" is fresh
on the promo. Everyone's personal taste in a particular score is
slightly different, and while Young's arrangement is superior, some fans
may want to hear "Bust" and "Missing Vocal" (despite the redundancy)
appended to the promo for a more complete experience. Getting a hold of
that promo will prove difficult, however. Entitled "In Too Deep:
Revisited," it was professionally pressed in extremely limited
quantities. Circulation never seemed to hit the full spread of
soundtrack specialty outlets, with copies advertised as being a free
bonus on orders of over $100 at Buysoundtrax.com in mid-April, 2008. The
BSX Records label has been a supporter of Young's work (much like
Intrada) and it's likely that they coordinated the promotional pressing
and distribution. Unfortunately for fans, the album was no longer
advertised as being available just a couple of weeks later, and copies
began floating to auction venues for upwards of $40. As Young states
about the score, though, "Thanks for giving it another shot. At long
last I think I can finally live with this score." That's a fascinating
statement about a score that most fans had long forgotten about. The
revisit is a justified and pleasant surprise. @Amazon.com: CD or
Download

Music as Written for Film: ***

1999 Varèse Sarabande Album: ***

2008 Promotional Album: ****

Overall: ***

Bias Check:

For Christopher Young reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.4
(in 25 reviews)and the average viewer rating is 3.1
(in 8,990 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.